American Bridge Co. v. Seeds

144 F. 605, 11 L.R.A.N.S. 1041, 1906 U.S. App. LEXIS 3863
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedMarch 9, 1906
DocketNo. 2,255
StatusPublished
Cited by56 cases

This text of 144 F. 605 (American Bridge Co. v. Seeds) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
American Bridge Co. v. Seeds, 144 F. 605, 11 L.R.A.N.S. 1041, 1906 U.S. App. LEXIS 3863 (8th Cir. 1906).

Opinion

SANBORN, Circuit Judge,

after stating the case as above, delivered the opinion of the cour.t.

The foreman was the fellow servant of the plaintiff, and the latter necessarily assumed the risk of the former’s negligence, including the risk of the order which he gave to the plaintiff and the risk 'of the signal which he gave to the man at the niggerhead. The servant assumes the risk of the negligence of his superior fellow servant in the direction of the men and of the work, to the same extent that he assumes the risk of the negligence of the fellow laborer by his side who is engaged in performing the work. Weeks v. Scharer, 49 C. C. A. 372, 377, 111 Fed. 330, 335; Railroad Co. v. Baugh, 149 U. S. 368, 13 Sup. Ct. 914, 37 L. Ed. 772; Railroad Co. v. Hambly, 154 U. S. 359, 14 Sup. Ct. 983, 38 L. Ed. 1009; Railroad Co. v. Conroy, 175 U. S. 323, 20 Sup. Ct. 85, 44 L. Ed. 181; City of Minneapolis v. Lundin, 58 Fed. 525, 527, 7 C. C. A. 344, 346; Coal Co. v. Johnson, 56 Fed. 810, 6 C. C. A. 148; Railway Co. v. Waters, 70 Fed. 28, 16 C. C. A. 609; Balch v. Haas, 73 Fed. 974, 979, 20 C. C. A. 151, 156; Bridge Co. v. Olsen, 108 Fed. 335, 337, 47 C. C. A. 367, 369, 54 L. R. A. 33; Railway Co. v. Elliott, 102 Fed. 96, 111, 42 C. C. A. 188, 193; Millsaps v. Railway Co., 69 Miss. 423, 13 South. 696; Railroad Co. v. Hoover, 79 Md. 253, 29 Atl. 994, 25 D. R. A. 710, 47 Am. St. Rep. 392; Blessing v. Railway Co., 77 Mo. 410; 2 Bailey, Pers. Inj. §§ 2061, 2190; Railroad Co. v. Poirier, 167 U. S. 48, 17 Sup. Ct. 741, 42 L. Ed. 72; Oakes v. Mase, 165 U. S. 363, 17 Sup. Ct. 345, 41 L. Ed. 746; Railroad Co. v. Herbert, 116 U. S. 642, 6 Sup. Ct. 590, 29 L. Ed. 755; Randall v. Railway Co., 109 U. S. [609]*609478, 3 Sup. Ct. 322, 27 L. Ed. 1003; Farwell v. Railroad Co., 4 Metc. (Mass.) 49, 38 Am. Dec. 339; Holden v. Railroad Co., 129 Mass. 268, 37 Am. Rep. 343; Clifford v. Railroad, 143 Mass. 564, 6 N. E. 751; Sherman v. Railroad Co., 17 N. Y. 153; Besel v. Railroad Co., 70 N. Y. 173; De Forest v. Jewett, 88 N. Y. 264; Weger v. Railroad Co., 55 Pa. 460; Coal Co. v. Jones, 86 Pa. 432.

The facts of this case leave no alternative but the conclusion that the inopportune signal of the foreman to rapidly raise the iron chords and let them swing against the plaintiff before he had reached a place of safety was the active and efficient cause of the injury. If that signal had not been given until the plaintiff had reached the traveler run, the accident would not have happened. No one could have reasonably anticipated that the foreman would give such a signal at such a time. The plaintiff testified: “If I had known a signal of that kind was going to be given, I never would have gone there to hook onto the bars.” That signal was not induced by the omission to cover the space between the traveler run and the stringer, nor by the failure to attach a snub rope to the load. It was an act of another •human agency independent of either of the parties to this action.

It is not conceded that the alleged omissions of the defendant constituted any breach of its duty to the plaintiff to exercise ordinary care to provide him a reasonably safe place in which to do his work. But, if they had constituted such a breach, it is not perceived how they could sustain a judgment against the bridge company for an injury caused by the negligent act of another, which it did not induce and could not have foreseen. The test of liability in cases of alleged concurring negligence, like the one in hand, is the same as in all other actions for negligence. It is the true answer to the questions: Was the injury the natural and probable consequence of the acts on which the action is based? was it reasonably to be anticipated from them? If it was, the action may be maintained, although the negligence of another concurred to produce it. The burden of proof was upon the plaintiff to establish a state of facts which would naturally lead to the conclusion that his fall was the natural and probable consequence of the loosely planned space and of the absence of the snub rope. The only evidence upon this subject was the evidence of experience. These omissions never did cause a fall. None ever occurred until a new and independent force, the careless signal of the foreman, sent the swinging load against the plaintiff and threw him lo the ice below.

There is no duty imposed upon a master to anticipate breaches of duty on the part of his servants, but he may lawfully reckon the natural and probable result of his actions upon the supposition that his servants will obey the law and faithfully discharge their duties. The legal presumption is that they will do so, and this is the only practicable basis for the measurement of the acts, rights, or remedies of mankind. Little Rock & Memphis R. R. Co. v. Barry, 84 Fed. 944, 950, 28 C. C. A. 644, 650, 43 L. R. A. 349; Cole v. German Sav. & Loan Soc., 59 C. C. A. 593, 599, 124 Fed. 113, 119, 63 L. R. A. 416. Mr. Justice Holmes in delivering the opinion in Burt v. Ad[610]*610vertiser Newspaper Co., 154 Mass. 238, 247, 28 N. E. 1, 6, 13 L. R. A. 97, said:

“Wrongful acts of independent third persons,* not actually intended by the defendant, are not regarded by the law as natural consequences of his wrong, and he is not bound to anticipate the general probability of such acts, any more than a particular act by this or that individual.”

In the light of these established rules of law, there seems to be but one admissible answer, upon the facts in this case, to the question whether or not the alleged omissions of the defendant were the proximate cause of the injury of the plaintiff. Wharton says:

“Supposing that, had it not been for the intervention of a responsible third party, the defendant’s negligence would have produced no damage to the plaintiff, is the defendant liable to the plaintiff? The question must be answered in the negative, for the general reason that causal connection between negligence and damage is broken by the interposition of responsible human action. I am negligent on a particular subject-matter as to which I am not contractually bound. Another person, moving independently, comes in, and either negligently or maliciously so acts as to make my negligence injurious to a third person. If so. the person so intervening acts as a nonconductor, and insulates my negligence, so that I cannot be sued for the mischief which the person so intervening directly produces. lie is the one who is liable to the person injured.” Wharf. Meg. g 134.

Bishop on Noncontract Law, § 42, says:

“If, after the cause in question has been in operation, some independent force comes in and produces an injury, not ips natural or probable effect, the author of the cause is not responsible.”

Judge Cooley and the Supreme-Court of North Carolina say in his words:

“If the original wrong only becomes injurious in consequence of the intervention of some distinctly wrongful act or omission by another, the injury shall be imputed to the last wrong as the proximate cause, and not to that which was more remote.” Clark v. Wilmington, etc., R. Co., 109 N. C. 430, 449, 14 S. E.

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Bluebook (online)
144 F. 605, 11 L.R.A.N.S. 1041, 1906 U.S. App. LEXIS 3863, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/american-bridge-co-v-seeds-ca8-1906.